Conquest and Penetration: Birth of the Mestizo

Historical Background
o Bombing of USS Maine on Havana Harbor (February 15, 1898)
Theodore Roosevelt, Usec of Navy, blamed it on dirty treachery of Spaniards
Part of triumvirate who manipulated Pres. McKinley to declare war on Spain
o To assist Cuban rebels win independence
o Crush newly born Philippine Republic
Real cause: spontaneous fire in coal bunker next to magazine reserve
Based on research team of Rear Admiral Hyman Rickover
2nd Triumvirate Member: Captain Alfred Thayer
Published Influence of Sea on Power History
National security and international supremacy depend on powerful navy
rd
3 Triumvirate Member: Henry Cabot Lodge
Wanted to see America realize its manifest destiny as world power
Publishers who aid the triumvirate: Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer
o Queen Maria Cristina of Spain sought conciliation knowing that America will defeat them
Americans want war: Remember the Maine/ To hell with Spain
o War broke out in April 1898
Admiral George Dewey show flag in the neighborhood of the Philippines
April 19, US Congress passed resolution declaring war on Spain
McKinley instructed to head to Philippines: Capture or Destroy
Dewey defeated the Spanish fleet after a 2-hour battle
McKinley cant make up his mind whether to take or leave Philippines
Cabinet Members who helped make up McKinleys Mind
John Riggs attorney general
Cornelius Bliss secretary of interior
James Wilson secretary of agriculture
McKinely on Manifest Destiny to educate the Filipinos and uplift and Christianize
Told negotiators in Paris his want to annex the whole Philippines
o Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898
Granting independence to Cuba
Making Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam American possessions
Legitimizes American occupation of the Philippines
Marriage contract between civil law and common law system union of convenience
o Philippines became an unincorporated territory of the US
Military Government
First Military Governor: Major General Wesley Meritt
Philippine American War in February 1899
Governance of Philippines transferred from State to War department
Headed by Elihu Root justified expansionist of the US
o Drafted the Philippine Commission (Taft Commission)
Taft Commission Philippine Supreme Court Rulings (case of 1902)
Not all the right listed in US constitution followed the flag in the Philippines
o No right to bear arms for purposes of pacifying freedom fighters
o No right to trial by jury looked down on Filipinos as savages
Taft Commission looked to the ilustrados as key to policy of attraction
Formed Partido Federalista foundations of eventual statehood
Spooner Amendment (Senator John Spooner)
Enact laws to govern Philippines
Military Government ended and Civil Government was instituted

Head of 2nd Philippine Commission: William Howard Taft

Constitutionalism and Common Law Comes to the Philippines
o McKinley Instruction to impose rule
No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law
US SC had jurisdiction overall judgments of Phil SC
On Organic Laws of the Philippines
Any statute, treaty, title, or privilege of the US
Appeal from judgment of Phil SC with that of Washington Court
Protection of the Constitution could not automatically extend to colonies
Philippines was placed outside US constitution with respect to tax
Interests on sectoral business participation and trade expansion
Case of the 14 Diamond Rings
o US agricultural products were protected from Philippine competition
o US congress adjusted tariff laws in the Philippines
Allows preferential entry of American goods
o High tariffs for Philippine products entering the US (25%)
o US products entered duty-free in the Philippines
Insular Cases
o Chinese exclusion laws in the Philippines
o Deny US citizenship to Filipinos even if they swear allegiance to US
Civil and political rights was expanded
Organic Act of 1902 - All inhabitants of Philippines are citizens of Philippines
Judiciary, part of colonial government, carry out colonial policy of Americans
American Jurisprudence extended to Philippines (stare decisis)
Majority of Philippine SC were Americans qualification of loyalty to US
Filipinos have own notion of law of the land or due process
o Provision on the Malolos Constitution
Constitutionalism was incongruous with economic underdevelopment
o 2nd Philippine commission in 1900
Setting up new government created in American Image
Commission with executive and legislative function
Influx of borrowed laws and common law doctrines
Lack of laws stimulated creation of laws
Judiciary is an American dominated SC at its apex
Use American jurisprudence as precedents due to borrowed laws
SC stamped its imprimatur on this practice
US provisions extended to Philippines
o Interpreted when US congress made them applicable to Philippines
Constitutional Law: Hegemony of Police Power
o Philippine SC used common law concepts to assert colonial authority
o Subordinated property rights to police power
o Affirmed supremacy of police power where property is invested with social function
State can regulate private business
Restrain the use of property injurious to the rights of the public
Police power rests upon necessity and the right to self-protection
o De Villata vs. Stanley (shipping case) made numerous reversal of its previous decision
SC veered away from established doctrines and began process of judicial legislation
Ascendancy of Substantive Due Process in Constitutional Law
o Economic policies began to influence judicial thought
Presidents Harding and Coolidge made laissez faire a plan for dynamic action
Less government in business and more business in government (Harding)

 Harding did not spare Philippines government owned development marketing corp.
Governor General Wood keep government out of business to encourage private enterprise
Reversed policy made by predecessors
Sold to private firms almost all government corporations
Opposed Philippine independence on grounds that it did not have stable government
Defined stable government as:
o abundant public and private funds
o readily seek investment at moderate rates of interest
Partial to American Business did not collect taxes collected to Filipino counterparts
o Judiciary became model of protecting property interest against Filipino legislature assaults
All-Filipino judiciary might pass laws destructive of property rights
Organic Act 1922 and EO concerning fixing of rice price was challenged in courts
Rice is imported from Saigon
Hording happened to the sacks of rice raising their prices
Government sought to regulate price of rice
Declared the above unconstitutional because it deals with private property rights
Adopted the doctrine of liberty of contract
The law on rice price restriction is a deprivation of liberty to contract
Adopted Adkins case where wages are at the heart of contracts
The constitutional doctrine of US were applied indiscriminately
Philippines still has an underdeveloped economy
o Legislature seek to prevent tax evasion among Chinese Businessmen (Yu Cong Eng Case)
Case when account books was written in Chinese
Court ruled that to prohibit writing in Chinese is oppressive and arbitrary
Court ruled that without books of account, they will fall prey to fraud
Liberty of action is impaired and preservation of property is violated
Procedural Law: From Inquisitorial to Adversarial
o Crossbreeding of laws started upon Americans entry into Manila (after Treaty of Paris)
o Codes of procedure were promulgated to cover omissions of Spanish legal system
General Order No. 68 from Siete Partidas to Code of Civil Procedure
General Order No. 58 Code of Criminal Procedure
Abolished inquisitorial procedure and adopted accusatorial system
Secured all rights of the accused
Inquisitorial illegally seized evidence is admissible
Accusatorial unlawfully obtained evidence is not necessarily inadmissible
Laws by Philippine Commission municipal code, provincial government act etc.
Retention of Private Law and Custom Law
o Private laws were retained
Except those in conflict with American notions of democracy and republicanism
Marriage laws (Church marriage for Spanish law changed to civil marriage)
Temporary expedience dictated retention of customary law of indigenous Filipinos
o After pacification, policy reversed from pluralism to policy of assimilation of indigenous people
Not matter of recognition but a matter of inability to colonize ethnic communities
Examples are Muslims which are not conquered by either Spanish or Americans
Ethnic minorities managed to retain their personal laws and customs
Retained their social and cultural institutions
o Policy of Assimilation of Ethnic Minorities including the Muslims (1903)
Most tribes were able to resist attempts went to the mountains and forests
Western personal law failed to penetrate ancestral domains of indigenous peoples
o Spanish Civil Law was not completely removed because there are vested rights
Personal property rights of the friars and sects which hove lands in the Philippines
o

Provisions
McKinleys Instruction (1st Organic Law)
Protection of all rights of property
US Sec of War Expeditionary Forces
Security in their persons and property in all their private rights and relations
Civil Governor William Howard Taft
Sacred character of private property
Written law against the attacks of anarchy, socialism and communism
Governor General Taft
Policy of attraction towards Hispanic Elite
Philippine Commission
Both English and Spanish as official languages of all courts
Criminal Law: Lone Survivor in Public Law
o Spanish penal code remains the sole survivor or common law onslaught in public law
o Altered to render it consistent to political and civil rights and to serve purpose of US
o Most crimes against the fundamental laws of the state had ben abrogated or modified
o Laws to pacify rebellious acts were incorporated in the Penal Code when revised in 1930
o Spanish Penal Code is based on French Penal Code based on classical school (Roman Law)
o Punishment is proportional to the nature and gravity of the offense
o Penal system as part of policy in civilizing Filipinos with a Krag (a repeating rifle)
Judicial System Follow the Flag
o Military Commander Elwell Otis
Prescribe municipal elections
Renovated Spanish created judiciary putting native magistrate in trial courts
Created Supreme Court placing Cayetano Arellano as Chief Justice
o Americans superimposed common law principles on existing civil law system
By appointing majority American Judges in SC and inferior courts
By importation of American Statues into the Philippines
Result: Doctrine of Stare Decisis
o Philippine SC decisions can be reviewed by certiorari by the Federal SC
Statutory Interpretation
o Philippine courts began to resort to American common-law jurisprudence
o The same were applied to statutes which were applied to the Spanish colonial period
o The view of civilian commentators, text writers and Spanish Courts are sometimes consulted
o Concept of equity seen the perspective of American Common Law i.e. equitable remedies
Retention of the Civil Code Provisions on Persons and Property
o Retained Spanish Civil Code based on the Code of Napoleon
o In accordance with the principles of International Law
o Portions of Spanish Civil Code are either modified or superseded
This is done by statutes passed by the Philippine Commission
o Most significant changes were on property, obligations, contracts, business organizations,
credit transactions, transportation and banking and insurance transactions
o The law had to follow the dominant ideology of the colonizer
o Land laws had to be modified from civilian roots to make it more consistent with the ruling
ideas of a business civilization
o Movables and immovables were changed to property rights on land and on movables
o Americans evolved patterns of trade and commerce through US Congress legislation
Payne Aldrich Act of 1909
Underwood Simmons Act of 1913
Obligations and Contracts
o Notable common law doctrines which blended into civil law system:
o

Tort of proximate cause, negligence and contributory negligence

Negligence, last clear chance, vicarious liability, sovereign immunity, moral damages
Loss of profits, speculative profits, mitigation of damages
o SC held that the consideration of American law and causa (essential reason of a contract) of
civil law, although different in theory, have equivalent effects in jurisprudence
o 1950 civil code has adopted the rule on discharge by breach in contracts especially in sales
of goods as Philippines borrowed from the provisions of the Uniform Sales Act of the US
o Examples of hybridization: mixing of pater familias in Roman law with the common law
concept of the reasonable man; mixing of the concepts of surety and guaranty
Commercial Law
o Always reshaped by the ideology of the dominant economy
Development of mercantile law (nature of Spanish code of Commerce)
The Philippine Commission/National Assembly borrowed wholesale American Laws
on corporations, negotiable instruments, securities, insurance, banking etc.
o The judiciary had to rely on American/English authorities in interpreting and applying the laws
o A Philippine common law was evolved based on Anglo American jurisprudence
Except where there is conflict with local customs and institutions